Revolution

//** Revolution! **//



1. Who should decide what is best for ‘the people’?

 * The people themselves and those that they elect to decide for them should decide what's best, because they know firsthand what needs to be changed and what has and hasn't worked. The people are the only ones who should have the ability to decide what's best.

2. What makes people comply or reject?

 * People comply when they are given an incentive, such as particular freedoms, and they reject when their freedoms are taken away. Usually people reject a severe change in something that they've known for a long time, because it seems unfair and illogical to change something that has "worked" for a long time, regardless of efficiency. The ideals of the parties involved makes people comply or reject.

3. What makes a revolution successful?

 * A unified organization with strong leadership and that's usually well-funded makes a revolution successful, because in order to defy and defeat a stronger, larger government, an organization must have the ability to plot strategic attacks and keep moral up during hardships, which could break the entire revolution. The amount of people and the combined/ individual power of those people make a revolution successful, and the support of the people is needed.

4. Who are the winners in a political revolution?

 * The winners are those that are able to shift the public's support toward them and gain control of the government, because without the people's support the government cannot pass effective laws. Who ever is left after all of the fighting is done!

5. What causes change in a society?

 * Gradual change can come about through peaceful means, such as protesting or petitioning, but immediate change can come from revolutionary action, which uses the people's anguish as the driving force behind the social change. Revolution is the only real immediate option, because change usually occurs in an orderly manner, which keeps the peace, but also requires time and patience. Inequality and discrimination cause forceful change in a society. Also technology, the environment, and politics cause change in a society.

//** Revolution: **//
 * ** Define it in your own words: **
 * A movement that is driven by a group or a people in order to force change upon a system
 * ** Look up a definition of the term: **
 * an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed. (Dictionary.com)
 * ** What are characteristics or acts you associate with Revolutions? **
 * ====== Protests, uprisings, riots, and outright military combat between revolutionaries and the government are the violent characteristics of a revolution. Severe governmental change or no change whatsoever are usually the outcome of a revolution. ======
 * Powerfully spoken leaders
 * Popular ideas being spread among the lower classes
 * Executions of the oppressive leaders
 * Strong nationalism
 * Guerilla Warfare vs Standard Combat
 * Terrorism
 * Lack of freedoms
 * Lack of public communications (newspapers, radio)
 * Inequality between "Haves" and "Have-nots"
 * Boycotting


 * Revolutionary Ideas Template: **

Rankings:
 * 1) The most important concept is **Liberty**, because liberty allows the populace to express a multitude of freedoms, such as speech, expression, and peaceful protest, which can all work to drive positive change in a society. Equality and Justice are also very important, but without liberty, then equality and justice couldn't be implemented by the people.
 * 2) ** Justice **
 * 3) **Equality**

//** Fever Model of the American Revolution: **//

**Using Brinton’s Fever Model for the American Revolution:** Those that do not are usually considered failed rebellions || * American alliance with the French
 * = ** Stage: ** ||= ** Explanation: ** ||= ** Examples from the American Revolution: ** ||
 * ** Incubation: ** || this stage would involve the political, social, intellectual, or economic causes || * Forced to quarter soldiers
 * Enlightened philosophers like John Locke
 * The Navigation Acts
 * The Stamp Act
 * The Tea Act
 * The Sugar Act
 * Townshend Revenue Act
 * The Boston Massacre
 * The Intolerable Acts
 * Proclamation of 1763 ||
 * ** Symptoms: ** || This stage would be the first to involve direct action resulting from the social, political, intellectual, or economic causes of the incubation stage. This stage might involve the publication of works calling for a change, street level riots by the common people, or more direct attempts at changing the society || * Boston Tea Party
 * Thomas Paine's Common Sense published
 * The Declaration of Independence is written
 * The Stamp Act Congress is created
 * The Burning of the Gaspee (revenue schooner burnt by locals) ||
 * ** Crisis: ** || It may involve conflict where sides for and against the revolution compete. This competition could take the form of debate or full-scale war. Successful revolutions survive this stage.
 * Battles of Lexington and Concord
 * Battle of Bunker Hill
 * Battle of Trenton
 * The British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga
 * The American victory at Yorktown, ending the war ||
 * ** Convalescence: ** || This stage would involve recovering from the extreme disruptions of the crisis stage. In general, the political, social, intellectual, or economic causes of the revolution must be addressed in some way, though not necessarily to the satisfaction of all revolutionaries. || * Treaty of Paris
 * The Articles of Confederation created
 * The US Constitution is ratified
 * The Bill of Rights is created
 * George Washington is elected as the first president of the US ||



The meaning of this visual is that equality and justice are two separate, and very different, concepts. Equality refers to equal treatment of everyone, regardless of physical appearance, race, religion, etc. However, it isn't always beneficial, because if everyone receives the same treatment regardless of who they are, then some are naturally going to benefit more due to their individual characteristics which aren't accounted for. Justice on the other hand refers to the just treatment of everyone in order to create equality among the masses. Justice accounts for individual characteristics and sets up rules to accommodate for those differences, allowing everyone to have a fair and equal experience.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18N6BgqN9AYF1CTmYtYw6U6wnE1RSE-ds0ubBiHzEtQY/edit
 * Chinese Revolution(s) Mark-Up: **


 * 1. From the late 1800s to the 20th century, what were some of the "underlying" causes of unrest in China (Incubation period)? **
 * Governmental corruption, peasant unrest, ineffective government, and overpopulation leading to food shortages were some of the "underlying" causes of Chinese unrest in the late 1800s. Embarrassment at the hands of foreigners following the Opium War.
 * 2. What changes occurred in China after the revolution of 1911? **
 * Very little changed after the Revolution of 1911, except that the attempted westernization of China led to the benefiting of only the wealthiest city-dwellers as well as the increase in overall city wealth in some parts of the nation. Revolution led by Sun Yat-Sen in order to modernize China.
 * 3. Explain the role of the Nationalists and Communists in the Chinese Government. **
 * The Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, and Communists, led by Mao Zedong, worked to rid China of western influence from 1926 to 1927, but then became mortal enemies after the Nationalists attacked the Communists and drove them northward on the deadly "Long March" after taking control of the nation. After WWII, the Communists then counterattacked with the support of Chinese peasants, ultimately taking control of China and driving the Nationalists out of the nation in the Communist Revolution. Nationalists driven to Taiwan.
 * 4. Highlight the role of Mao in China. **
 * Mao initiated the main revolutions of China, including the Communist and Cultural Revolutions. He rid the country of individual land-ownership, destroyed private business, and handed land to peasants. He created the Liberation Army to deal with any threats to his government. He created massive communes for farming, even beginning the Great Leap Forward in which millions died trying to mass produce enough food to feed all of the factory workers of China and the peasants too. Furthermore, he eliminated massive numbers of anti-communists and worked to eliminate the "four olds" (customs, culture, habits, ideas) of Chinese culture, in which his Red Guard burned books, sacked villages, destroyed churches, and beat non-communists. Mao "reeducated" the population of China by forcing people to learn from his "little red book". Finally, Mao, doing something positive for the culture of China, gave women many more rights as well as equal status as men had. And ended the custom of foot-binding in China.


 * "China Under Mao" Video Response: What impact did Mao have on China? **
 * European interest in China grew as the demand for Chinese goods grew
 * Republic was divided between the Nationalists (US-supported) and the Communists
 * 1949, Chinese Civil War ends: Communists win
 * People's Republic of China created under Mao
 * Mao wanted to erase ALL social inequality
 * Mao wanted everyone to share the wealth
 * Great Leap Forward: modernize China
 * Little to no food was available to feed the peasant farmers during the GLF
 * Cultural Revolution: Red Guard brought chaos to China, killing and exiling enemies of Mao
 * 50-75 million people died under Mao's reign

Mao's impact on China was severe, radical, and deadly. After coming to power, he turned life upside-down for a good portion of Chinese people, stripping them of power and wealth and dealing that wealth out among the masses. He aimed to destroy social inequality, but his actions led to the deaths of millions of people almost as soon as his reign began. Following this, Mao began what he called the Great Leap Forward. This attempt to collect all peasants onto massive communes and have them produce absurd amounts of food for the entire population of China failed miserably. Commune overseers feared punishment if they didn't produce enough food, so they lied about how much they were actually producing, leading to little food actually being saved for the peasants. The peasants couldn't produce enough food for themselves as well as the factory workers of China, resulting in the deaths of over 15 million people. Finally, Mao's Cultural Revolution would lead to the deaths of millions more people. His Red Guard would seek out all threats to communism and Mao's way of thinking, forcing those threats to be worked to exhaustion or killed. They destroyed all traces of China's old ideas, culture, habits, and customs. Mao's revolutions did help out women, giving them equal rights as men and relieving them of the tradition of foot binding. In the end, Mao's reign did help to modernize China, but required the deaths of 50-75 million Chinese to do so.

//** Quotations from Mao Zedong on War and Revolution: **//

"A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another."


 * — From //Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan// **


 * A revolution is nothing pretty or admirable, it requires bloodshed and the sacrifice of many lives to be successful.

"The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them."


 * — From //Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work// **


 * A revolutionary war can only be successful when a leader can use the collective power of the majority of the people as a weapon.

"War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes."


 * — From //Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War// **


 * When everyone is not equal, both in social and economic status, then war is an inevitability, a very bloody inevitability.

"Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.""


 * — From //Problems of War and Strategy// **


 * The only way to actually gain political power is to use force and violence, taking lives in the process.

__**According to the quotes above how might Mao Zedong define revolution**__?
 * Mao might define revolution as a military move, supported by the masses, that is intended to cause political change through war. A revolution is a violent struggle where one social class topples another; it must be violent. A revolution must be supported and controlled by a strong army or police force.

__**Do you agree with the quotes of Mao? Why or why not? (use specific evidence from the quotes) **__
 * I agree with the first three quotes, because they express that a revolutionary war is an "act of violence" that depends on "mobilizing the masses" in order to achieve change. Also, I agree that war sometimes results from the "struggle to resolve contradictions", because when people are oppressed or have fewer rights than others, then they might seek to use force to initiate change. I don't agree with the last quote, because "political power" does not necessarily come from the "barrel of a gun" or through military force, but can come from democratic means.

// DJ on the "Tank Man" of Tiananmen Square: //

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SS7CDtiDUW_S89PkI26_5eRK8_xsIcbEubvsa1_PA2M/edit
 * Timeline on Tiananmen Square Chart: **

//** Chinese Censorship Chart: **//

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bFdWTDqaUmJsn04HMwVkOut8ReozCmJvokCSIEj4EXI/edit
 * The Successor to Mao: **


 * // Modern China Video Response: //**
 * What I saw: **
 * The beautifully lit metropolises of Shanghai
 * Modern, gigantic dams
 * The "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium
 * Giant fountains outside of Tiananmen Square
 * Modern, high-speed train system
 * Bustling nightlife
 * Beautiful waterfalls
 * Brightly-lit billboards
 * Extremely clean cities!
 * Massive Shanghai skyscrapers, and a lot of them!
 * China's flag


 * What was missing:**
 * The impoverished, non-modern countryside of China
 * The jam-packed urban center of Shanghai: the slums
 * The smog-filled skies of Chinese cities
 * The Chinese security forces patrolling public spaces
 * No public interactions between people on the street

//** Vocabulary on Revolutions/ China: **// https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JTiiqZiJ010yR0HLM_DQfickfFJg-2EhGB8ENAyzTQ8/edit


 * // Fever Model on the Chinese Revolutions: //**